Late Friday evening, reports the Olympian, Washington State House legislators voted 58-39 to approve a bill to recognize same sex marriages from out-of-state as valid domestic partnerships in the state. The sponser of the bill, Representative Laurie Jinkins (Democrat-Tacoma) said she wants to correct what she considers the unjust exclusion of same-sex marriages from protections for state-registered domestic partnerships. "This bill is about fairness for all families," Jinkins said. "Right now, there's a hole in the law." In 2009, voters moved to extend to domestic partnerships all the rights and protections granted to marriages. Current law recognizes out-of-state domestic partnerships and civil unions, but excludes same-sex marriage from that recognition. Jinkins said her bill would correct that disparity. "This is not a big deal - we're not extending any new rights," she said. "It says if you have a marriage in another state, you get a domestic partnership here. You don't get marriage here - you get a domestic partnership." Opponents argued this is just one step closer to allowing same sex marriage in Washington State, and is directly undermining the state's Defense of Marriage Act that was passed in 1998 to define marriage as between a man and a woman. Several representatives also voiced displeasure that this debate was taking place late on a Friday night, rather than "in broad daylight," when voters had a chance to hear what was going on. But proponents said it is a technical correction, updating the law to include the several states and countries that now allow same-sex marriage. The measure, HB 1649, now goes to the Senate.
The Saturday West Virginia Gazette reports that an attempt to add sexual orientation to the state’s anti-discrimination law failed, legislators not acting in time on a pair of bill – Senate Bill 226 and House Bill 2045 – meant to protect West Virginians from discrimination based on sexual orientation in areas of employment, housing, and public services. Committees in the House of Delegates and the Senate never took up the legislation. West Virginia current civil rights laws include characteristics such as race, religion and disability; laws designed to prevent discrimination in the workplace, in obtaining housing and at public places such as restaurants and hotels. Previous legislation to add sexual orientation to the law has cleared the Senate twice before -- in 2009 and 2008 -- but the House has never passed such proposals. "For this year, it's obviously dead," said acting Senate President Jeff Kessler (Democrat-Marshall) a sponsor of the Senate measure and a candidate in the special election for governor, adding that this year, the Senate did not take action on the issue because "we didn't think the House would pass it.” Last month, Kessler and Delegate Barbara Fleischauer (Democrat-Monongalia) appeared at a Capitol news conference with Sam Hall, a former coal miner who is gay. In a lawsuit filed against Massey Energy Co. in December, Hall alleged co-workers harassed him on the job because of his sexual orientation. Fairness West Virginia President Stephen Skinner blamed the legislation's demise on a lack of leadership on the issue in the House. "The Senate has passed it twice," said Skinner, whose group advocates for gays and lesbians. "I know they would pass it in an instant. We needed some real leadership in the House, and we didn't see it." Kessler said he now intends to try to amend an anti-bullying bill (House Bill 3225) to protect students from bullying based on their real or perceived sexual orientation. "That's probably one of the typical types of taunts that kids throw at that adolescent age," he said. That bill passed the House last week and it is now pending in the Senate. It is meant to prevent cyber-bullying and bullying at bus stops and on school buses. The Family Policy Council of West Virginia and the West Virginia Family Foundation oppose adding sexual orientation to civil rights and anti-bullying laws.
The Boston Globe reports that Friday, two months after Congress passed legislation ending the military's ban on gays serving openly, Harvard signed an agreement with the Navy today to re-establish ties with Naval ROTC. Harvard has not had an official relationship to ROTC in four decades, a division often portrayed as symbolic of the estrangement of liberal elite institutions with the military, but Harvard insists the new policy on gays triggered the change, the agreement actually says less about changes at the Pentagon, and a lot about the changing political climate at Harvard. The faculty evicted ROTC from campus amid anti-Vietnam protests in 1969. Basing the policy on the military's exclusion of gays came later, and justified continuing the ban once Vietnam was long over. And if general campus sentiment still opposed the military's presence, there's little doubt Harvard could have found another reason to keep ROTC out, the military's policy on transgender service members, for example. But two successive university presidents, Larry Summers and Drew Faust, have tried to make Harvard more welcoming to the military and the issue stopped resonating with students long ago.
Zac Efron spotted Saturday arriving at JFK Airport en route to Los Angeles.
Joe Jonas and a gaggle of guy friends shop American Rag Saturday.
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